Here's a copy of the AP article.
TV ADDRESS SUGGESTS SADAAM MAY BE ALIVE
BY John J Lumkin
WASHINGTON (April 4) - References to a downed U.S. helicopter in Saddam Hussein's video message Friday suggest it was made after the strike aimed at killing him, a U.S. intelligence official said. The message was some of the strongest evidence yet that the Iraqi president survived the attack.
The official stopped short of saying the video message, which was broadcast on Iraqi television Friday, provided conclusive proof he was still alive and in command of the Iraqi regime.
But Saddam's reference to a villager shooting down a U.S. AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter matched claims by other Iraqi officials, which first aired in the hours after the March 24 downing of an Apache in battle south of Baghdad.
In his address, Saddam said, among other things, ''Perhaps you remember the valiant Iraqi peasant and how he shot down an American Apache with an old weapon.''
Iraq claimed downing two helicopters that day but U.S. military officials said only one was lost. Whether the helicopter went down to hostile fire or a mechanical failure is unclear.
The two crew members were taken prisoner by Iraqis, and their pictures later aired on Iraqi television.
Iraqi television has broadcast a number of speeches and messages from Saddam since March 19, when U.S. forces opened the war by striking at a residential compound where Saddam was believed to be sleeping.
But none of those messages contained the kind of specific references - akin to holding up that day's newspaper - that would confirm they were recorded after the war's start. Intelligence officials said they had some information that Saddam prerecorded a number of speeches to air during the war.
The intelligence official, discussing the situation only on grounds of anonymity, said it was possible that even Friday's speech - including a precognitive reference to a downed helicopter - was recorded before the war, but acknowledged it was more likely recorded since March 24.
The whereabouts of Saddam and his sons, also key players in the Iraqi regime, are unknown to U.S. intelligence.
AP-NY-04-04-03 1111EST
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), could blow up in his face, because his real death would be obvious because of the absence of such a speech. 
